UFC won't tamper, but sees Shields as a done deal

It doesn't seem to be a question of if, but only a question of when Jake Shields will become a UFC fighter.

The current Strikeforce middleweight champion is still in a negotiating period with his employers that allow them to try and retain his services, but all signs point to Shields leaving the promotion and signing with the UFC very soon.

UFC president Dana White has made no secret of his desire to land Shields.

"Here's the reality, I can't talk to him while he's under contract. We don't play like that, we don't do that," said White.

"I don't think it's rocket science, everybody knows he doesn't want to be with them anymore. They suck and we don't and he's coming here."

Just weeks ago before the Strikeforce show in St. Louis, rumors abounded that the promotion had actually planned on releasing Shields under the guise that they were already of the understanding that he wasn't going to re-sign with them, but the actual release didn’t happen.

Sources close to the fighter indicted to MMAWeekly.com that Shields does indeed intend on signing with the UFC when he's fully clear of his Strikeforce contract, and plans on competing in the Octagon as soon as they sign him.

Strikeforce has maintained that they plan on reaching out to Shields and his manager to try and work out a new deal, but as of two weeks ago no contact had been made between the two sides.

If everything stands true, Jake Shields will soon be a UFC fighter and Dana White will have added yet another top fighter to his growing roster of superstars.

Shields is one of my favorite fighters, so this excites me. It is a good move for the UFC with such a weak MW class.

Certainly an interesting case.

SF was never hot on resigning the guy. Why? Cause he's less then exciting. Yet he's clearly one of their best fighters and their current champ. The win over Hendo, at once made him more desireable to sign and raise his market value which is the last thing sf wanted. Losing Shields the fighter is one thing, losing Shields their 185 lb champ is another.

Why they didnt exercise the one fight option is beyond me. Clearly they, like everyone else expected Hendo to win, they gambled, they lost. But imo the one fight option was an easy and not overly expensive way to hedge their bet, and to an extent placate Shields.

Conversely I don't think the UFC would be overly hot on pursuing him either. Another less then thrilling grinder at 170? But stealing SF's champ, and turning the tide of fa fighters back towards the UFC after Hendo bolted is key. Especially one who trains in the same camp as 2 other SF champs.

Yeah I have to think the UFC would love to collect his teammates Melendez and Nick Diaz. Those guys are awesome.

I don't think Jake competes at MW either. He'll drop back down to WW. I think the reason he moved up was so that Diaz could fight at WW with melendez already being a SF LW contender.

They have actually been showing his face on TUF the past two weeks instead of editing him out.

Nice!